Chapter Seven #2
His voice cut gently through her spiralling thoughts. “You know,” he said, not pressing, not leaning closer, “you deserve days off too.”
She scoffed quietly, tiredness sharpening the sound. “Well...Thanks.”
His expression changed instantly, panic flickering across his face. “I...I didn’t mean anything by it,” he said quickly. “I swear. I just...I—”
She laughed. It slipped out of her before she could stop it. Soft, genuine, surprised even herself.
He stopped talking immediately.
She finished laughing and glanced back at him, shaking her head. “You’re sweet,” she said. “I appreciate it. But I’m not looking for anything, if that’s why you’re here.”
“No,” he said at once. Too fast. “No. I would never expect more than what you offer me, Anabelle.”
The world tilted. Her smile vanished. Her body went rigid, muscles locking as her heart slammed hard against her ribs. For half a second, she couldn’t breathe.
Did he just...
She stood abruptly, backing away a step, then another, eyes never leaving his face. “How,” she demanded, voice tight, controlled only by force of will, “do you know my name?”
The man froze. The faint smile disappeared. His shoulders tensed, just slightly. He winced, like someone who’d misstepped badly and knew it.
“I’m sorry,” he started, hands lifting slowly, palms open. “I...”
She didn’t hear anything else. Couldn’t. She turned sharply toward the Ferris wheel.
Toward the lights. The music. The crowd. People. She needed to be around people. Her pulse roared in her ears as she took two quick steps forward...then stopped dead.
Three men stood several feet in front of her in a loose semicircle, cutting off the most direct path back to the crowd. Not trapping her, not yet at least, but close enough that her instincts screamed anyway. Her heart slammed so hard she genuinely thought it might give out.
The first man on the left was tall, brown hair, dark eyes too intense, too raw.
His chiselled face looked like it was drowning in something, guilt, pain, hunger, she couldn’t tell.
A tattoo peeked above the collar of his shirt, a black swirling line disappearing beneath the fabric like it had been torn through before.
Something about it felt familiar. But she couldn’t focus.
The man in the middle was broader still, ashy grey hair styled in precarious fashion, hazel eyes that seemed to pull at her attention, holding it far longer than was comfortable.
A lip piercing glinted as he worried it between his teeth, nervous energy radiating off him in waves.
Her gaze lingered, just one second too long... Then she saw the last man on the right.
Black hair. Blue eyes. A jaw sharp enough to cut steel.
Fuck. It was him.
The one from the street. The one who had followed her. The one who had looked wrong and familiar all at once.
The others must be his brothers, she thought distantly. The word echoed in her head, hollow and surreal.
They were all so tall. So broad. So big.
Jesus Christ...one wrong move and they could snap her in half without even trying.
Her mind spiralled, thoughts tumbling over one another in jagged pieces.
“You...” she started, her voice thin, brittle.
But the man on the left –dark eyes– snapped his gaze past her, eyes sharpening as something ugly flared across his face.
“Really, Cameron?” he snarled, gravelly and pissed off. “You had one fucking job.”
She flinched. Hard. Her shoulders jerked, breath hitching as the sound hit her like a slap. Her eyes darted around wildly now, searching for gaps, for exits, for anyone who might notice what was happening.
They shifted. Not rushing her. But closer. The air around her seemed to shrink as they closed ranks just enough to make their presence unavoidable. She still had room...but they were well within arm’s reach now. Too close.
The man on the right –blue eyes– spoke, his voice smooth and controlled, sliding through her like a blade wrapped in silk.
“We’re really sorry to be accosting you like this,” he said. “I promise we don’t mean you...or your brother...any harm. None of us do. We just want to talk. Please. Just give us one moment to explain.”
The moment the word brother left his mouth, her head snapped up. Her breath shuddered out of her lungs when she saw him, still high up, as if nothing extraordinary was happening below him. He was safe. The panic didn’t vanish, but it did loosen just enough for her to breathe again.
“I…” Her thoughts scrambled, fear clawing at logic as she scanned their faces, the crowd, the distance. If I scream, she thought wildly, someone will help. Someone has to.
“I don’t know you,” she said, words tumbling out fast now. “I don’t... there’s nothing to talk about. You don’t need to explain anything. Just...please...leave me alone.”
The man in the middle –hazel eyes– spoke next, his voice lower, rougher, threaded with something that made her skin prickle.
“We can’t do that, sweetheart,” he said. “We can’t lose you. Not when we just found you.”
Her stomach dropped. Before she could respond, a voice sounded behind her. Too close.
She gasped and spun around, heart slamming violently against her ribs. He stood there, –brown eyes– the same man who had been sitting beside her moments ago. He hadn’t stood when she did. But now he just… appeared.
“We don’t want to scare you,” he said softly. “We just need a few minutes of your time. Please. Just let us explain.”
He lifted his hand slowly, palm open.
She didn’t wait to see what he would do. Fear detonated.
She flinched violently, throwing her hands up between them, body bracing for pain, for being grabbed, hit, dragged, and the world answered her.
A force exploded outward from her palms.
Not air. Not sound.
Energy.
Pure, unadulterated power blasted out in a wide arc, invisible but devastating. The ground shuddered. The air screamed. Lights flickered violently overhead.
All four males were thrown back.
Not gently.
They winced, cursed, dropped into crouches or staggered several feet away, arms raised instinctively to shield themselves as the shockwave tore past them like a living thing.
Anabelle stared at her hands. Her fingers trembled.
A faint hum lingered in the air, buzzing against her skin, alive and fading far too slowly.
“What the hell...” she whispered. “What just happened?”
Her voice sounded distant to her own ears.
They looked at her like she’d just shattered the world. Shock. Pain. Awe. And fear.
Dark eyes sucked in a sharp breath.
“Oh gods,” he said hoarsely. “You’re a caster.”
Her head snapped up.
“A what?”